---
title: Append Build Instructions In-Memory
sidebar_label: appendDockerfileInstructions
---


## `appendDockerfileInstructions`
The `appendDockerfileInstructions` expects an array of strings with each string containing a Dockerfile instruction, e.g. `RUN chmod...`, `USER root`.

This option is very useful to add development-specific instructions (installing dev tooling like debuggers, setting a different runtime user for the container etc.) without the need to change the actual Dockerfile.

:::info In-Memory
DevSpace adds these instructions dynamically to your Dockerfile when building images. However, this happens in-memory and does **not** change the Dockerfile.
:::

:::tip Combination with Profiles
It is often useful to create a [profile](../profiles/basics.mdx) `production` with a patch that removes the `appendDockerfileInstructions` entirely. This way, you can also evaluate what you are working on in a more production-like way using a single command: `devspace deploy -p production`
:::
